World War II Japanese American Incarceration: Pre-war Surveillance and Planning
Decades before Executive Order 9066 paved the way for mass incarceration of Japanese Americans, the U.S. government targeted Japanese American communities for surveillance. Intelligence reports on communities in Hawai'i (sugar strikers) and California (fishermen) revealed efforts to identify and root out alleged subversives and radicals. After Pearl Harbor, under the guise of a threat to national security, the U.S. government swiftly enacted legislation to justify and legitimize the systematic removal and large-scale detention of Nikkei communities from the West Coast.
For more information and to request access to the records below, click the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier to access the records description in the and contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 and Records Administration (NARA) office identified under 鈥淎rchived Copy.鈥�
Pre-war Surveillance
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (Record Group 38)
Office of Naval Intelligence Reports:
- Secret and Confidential Reports of Naval Attaches, January 1940鈥揷a. July 1946 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Formerly Security Classified General Correspondence, 1929鈥�1943 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Security Classified Letters Sent, July 1, 1929鈥揓une 30, 1945 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Area Files, ca. 1924鈥揷a. 1946 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Department of Justice (Record Group 60)
Department of Justice investigations of alleged subversive activity by Japanese American individuals and organizations, both pre-war and during World War II, are included in the following series:
- Class 146-7 (General Suspects) Litigation Case Files and Enclosures, 1930鈥�1972 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Class 146-7 (General Suspects) Litigation Case Files and Enclosures, 1940鈥�1968 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Security Classified 146-7 (General Suspects) Litigation Case Files, 1937鈥�1974 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
War Department General and Special Staffs (Record Group 165)
Security Classified Correspondence and Reports, 1917鈥�1941 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): From the Military Intelligence Division. Intelligence reports and correspondence related to Japanese Americans and Japanese American organizations can be located using the following indexes:
- Security Classified Personal Name Index, 1917鈥�1941 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Security Classified Geographic Subject Index, 1917鈥�1941 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Security Classified Subject Index, 1917鈥�1941 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Naval Districts and Shore Establishments (Record Group 181)
Intelligence report documenting Kanichi (Jack H.) Nishino, a fisherman from Terminal Island, August 8, 1941 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Central Subject Files, 1940鈥�1971 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): Photographs of Japanese fishing vessels based in Southern California, in folder . Compiled by the Eleventh Naval District.
Central Subject Files, 1925鈥�1954 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): Includes intelligence reports compiled by the Thirteenth Naval District in 1942 with titles including 鈥淛apanese Activities.鈥�
Subject Files, 1936鈥�1947 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): Includes lists of Japanese persons living within the Eighth Naval District and intelligence reports on Japanese ship movements from 1936鈥�1940.
Proclamations and Legislation
Alien Enemies Act (1798) (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): One of four laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Alien Enemies Act formed the basis for apprehending foreign nationals from enemy countries and confiscating their property during World War II. This act is still in force today. World War II Enemy Alien Control Program Overview.
Executive Order 9066 (1942) (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): Authorized the mass removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to "relocation centers" further inland, and resulted in the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Proclamation 2525 (1942) (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): Authorized the detention of Japanese nationals and confiscation of Japanese owned property. Proclamations 2526 and 2527 applied the same regulations to Germans and Italians, respectively.
Public Law 77-503 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier ): This act made the violation of Executive Order 9066 a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Public Law 77-507 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier ): Passed in March 1942 and known as the Second War Powers Act, this act temporarily repealed census privacy clauses and allowed the Census Bureau to provide individual level data that aided in the forced removal and detention of persons of Japanese descent.
House of Representatives (Record Group 233)
Committee Papers, 1940鈥�1943 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ):
- Records Relating to the Hearings on the Evacuation of Enemy Aliens and Other Persons from the Pacific Coast of the Select Committee Investigating National Defense Migration from the 77th Congress (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Newspaper Clippings of the Select Committee Investigating National Defense Migration from the 76th through 78th Congresses (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Exhibits, Evidence, and Other Records Related to Various Committee Investigations, 1938鈥�1942 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Planning
General John L. DeWitt Collection, 1921鈥�1946 (Collection DEWIT)
Two folders of newspaper clippings and DeWitt's testimony in congressional hearings on the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
- Evacuation of Japanese (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Evacuation of Japanese-Reaction (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Bureau of Agricultural Economics (Record Group 83)
Includes studies of the possible effects of the mass removal of the Japanese American population on agricultural production in California's Central Valley; and the sale of farmland and the process of developing confinement sites in Arizona.
- War Relocation Records, 1942 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Records of Adon Poli, 1941鈥�1946 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Correspondence and Reports, 1937鈥�1942 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
Posted Civilian Exclusion Orders (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
National Resources Planning Board (Record Group 187)
General Correspondence, 1936鈥�1943 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): One folder includes public proclamations concerning forced removal, reports, and other documents discussing selection of confinement sites.
War Relocation Authority (Record Group 210)
Notices, Proclamations, and Laws, February 20, 1942鈥�1945 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: ): Records include executive orders establishing the Western Defense Command (WDC) and the War Relocation Authority (WRA), as well as public proclamations and exclusion orders from designated military areas.
U.S. Army Defense Commands (World War II), 1942鈥�1946 (Record Group 499)
Records include public proclamations establishing military zones and civilian exclusion orders that restricted persons of Japanese descent from these designated areas.
- Proclamations, 1942鈥�1945 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )
- Orders, December 11, 1941鈥揗arch 1, 1946 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier: )